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Lot Essay
Pierre-Antoine Foullet, maître in 1765.
With its distinctive and bold architectural mounts, exceptional marquetry - which retains so much of its original engraving - and strength of design, this commode is characteristic of the oeuvre of the ébéniste Pierre-Antoine Foullet (maître in 1765). Son of the ébéniste Antoine Foullet (maître in 1749; flourished circa 1710-1775), who appears almost exclusively to have specialised in the construction of clock-cases, Pierre-Antoine established his workshops in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, before moving to the rue de Charonne in 1770.
Foullet's precarious financial situation throws some light upon his affairs, and as early as 1767 he owed 5,232 livres to the marchand-ébéniste Léonard Boudin, for whom he presumably worked. This debt to Boudin was still outstanding on the death of his father in 1775, when Pierre-Antoine was forced to rescind all rights to his fathers' estate. Boudin did not, however, have sole control of Foullet's production, as the Fournisseur du roi Gilles Joubert is known to have supplied several pieces by Foullet for the comte d'Artois' appartements at Versailles in 1773. Interestingly, none of the pieces supplied to Versailles through Joubert for the Garde-Meuble are stamped by Foullet himself, and this feature is also shared by this commode. With its unusual proportions and original 18th Century inventory number painted on the top, this commode was undoubtedly supplied for a specific and extremely sumptuous architectural commission - almost certainly through the intervention of a marchand-ébéniste like Joubert.
The brilliant integration of the distinctive ormolu mounts and marquetry panels on this commode is perhaps the clearest signature of Foullet's oeuvre. These same characteristics are shared, in particular, on the closely related group of larger Transitional commodes, including: that sold by the Rt. Hon. Lord Kinnaird from Rossie Priory, Perthshire, Christie's London, 22 June 1989, lot 105 (£187,000), which shared the same flaming altar apron mounts to both the front and sides, the twin-chandelles fluted angles, the ribbon-tied oval marquetry medallions and the capitals; another sold from the collection of Henry Ford II, Christie's New York, 12 November 1981, lot 214; another in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino (R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, 1979, p. 112); and another at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark (illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, 1974, pl. 132).
Whilst the bronzier responsible for the distinctive ormolu mounts employed by Pierre-Antoine Foullet is not recorded, they first appear on the commode stamped by both Boudin and Foullet père now in the Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. As A. Pradère concluded (Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p. 275), Foullet père's stamp appears on the commode presumably in his capacity as guarantor of his son's business in part settlement of the debt owed to the marchand-ébéniste. Although the commode was undoubtedly manufactured by his son, therefore, Foullet père may have been involved in some stage of the production, and it is interesting to note, therefore, that he employed the bronziers Claude-Bernard Héban and Caron père.
THE MARQUETEUR
Although specialist marqueteurs are known to have supplied both ébénistes and marchands-merciers throughout the 18th Century, Pierre-Antoine Foullet is thought to have executed the vast majority of pictorial marquetry panels in his own atelier. This hypothesis is underlined by the fact that the marquetry panel of the sécretaire in the Wallace Collection (F299) is engraved foulet (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, II, London, 1996, no. 194, pp. 954-964). The similarly discreet signature upon the central oval marquetry medallion on the offered commode - machan celtan - is probably that of a specialist marqueteur working within Foullet's atelier.
As G. de Bellaigue (Engravings, p. 361 and p. 363) has revealed, Foullet is known to have used publications such as Jean-Charles Delafosse's Quatrième Livre de Trophées contenant divers attributs pastorals of circa 1777 and Alexis Peyrotte's Premier Livre de Trophées of circa 1776 for inspiration. The pictorial marquetry medallions on this commode were almost certainly derived from an as yet untraced engraved source.
With its distinctive and bold architectural mounts, exceptional marquetry - which retains so much of its original engraving - and strength of design, this commode is characteristic of the oeuvre of the ébéniste Pierre-Antoine Foullet (maître in 1765). Son of the ébéniste Antoine Foullet (maître in 1749; flourished circa 1710-1775), who appears almost exclusively to have specialised in the construction of clock-cases, Pierre-Antoine established his workshops in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, before moving to the rue de Charonne in 1770.
Foullet's precarious financial situation throws some light upon his affairs, and as early as 1767 he owed 5,232 livres to the marchand-ébéniste Léonard Boudin, for whom he presumably worked. This debt to Boudin was still outstanding on the death of his father in 1775, when Pierre-Antoine was forced to rescind all rights to his fathers' estate. Boudin did not, however, have sole control of Foullet's production, as the Fournisseur du roi Gilles Joubert is known to have supplied several pieces by Foullet for the comte d'Artois' appartements at Versailles in 1773. Interestingly, none of the pieces supplied to Versailles through Joubert for the Garde-Meuble are stamped by Foullet himself, and this feature is also shared by this commode. With its unusual proportions and original 18th Century inventory number painted on the top, this commode was undoubtedly supplied for a specific and extremely sumptuous architectural commission - almost certainly through the intervention of a marchand-ébéniste like Joubert.
The brilliant integration of the distinctive ormolu mounts and marquetry panels on this commode is perhaps the clearest signature of Foullet's oeuvre. These same characteristics are shared, in particular, on the closely related group of larger Transitional commodes, including: that sold by the Rt. Hon. Lord Kinnaird from Rossie Priory, Perthshire, Christie's London, 22 June 1989, lot 105 (£187,000), which shared the same flaming altar apron mounts to both the front and sides, the twin-chandelles fluted angles, the ribbon-tied oval marquetry medallions and the capitals; another sold from the collection of Henry Ford II, Christie's New York, 12 November 1981, lot 214; another in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino (R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, 1979, p. 112); and another at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark (illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, 1974, pl. 132).
Whilst the bronzier responsible for the distinctive ormolu mounts employed by Pierre-Antoine Foullet is not recorded, they first appear on the commode stamped by both Boudin and Foullet père now in the Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. As A. Pradère concluded (Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Revolution, Paris, 1989, p. 275), Foullet père's stamp appears on the commode presumably in his capacity as guarantor of his son's business in part settlement of the debt owed to the marchand-ébéniste. Although the commode was undoubtedly manufactured by his son, therefore, Foullet père may have been involved in some stage of the production, and it is interesting to note, therefore, that he employed the bronziers Claude-Bernard Héban and Caron père.
THE MARQUETEUR
Although specialist marqueteurs are known to have supplied both ébénistes and marchands-merciers throughout the 18th Century, Pierre-Antoine Foullet is thought to have executed the vast majority of pictorial marquetry panels in his own atelier. This hypothesis is underlined by the fact that the marquetry panel of the sécretaire in the Wallace Collection (F299) is engraved foulet (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, II, London, 1996, no. 194, pp. 954-964). The similarly discreet signature upon the central oval marquetry medallion on the offered commode - machan celtan - is probably that of a specialist marqueteur working within Foullet's atelier.
As G. de Bellaigue (Engravings, p. 361 and p. 363) has revealed, Foullet is known to have used publications such as Jean-Charles Delafosse's Quatrième Livre de Trophées contenant divers attributs pastorals of circa 1777 and Alexis Peyrotte's Premier Livre de Trophées of circa 1776 for inspiration. The pictorial marquetry medallions on this commode were almost certainly derived from an as yet untraced engraved source.